Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission; 2 resign, protest of Act 12

MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee Fire and Police Commissioners Amanda Avalos and Ed Fallone announced their resignations Thursday, July 20 to "protest the restrictions placed on the Commission's authority by Act 12."

Fallone and Avalos served as the chair and vice chair.

Miriam Horwitz was elected to serve as the board's new chair during the FPC meeting Thursday evening following the resignation announcements. Dana World-Patterson was elected vice-chair. 

"I think it’s going to be a new commission," said Fallone.

Fallone and Avalos said they made the decision to resign in protest because of the strings attached to the city's deal with Republican lawmakers for shared revenue and a sales tax levy. 

Fallone and Avalos released a statement Thursday saying they could no longer be part of the rule-making and oversight board that was "reduced to a pawn in someone else's game."

"We should not just roll over and accept laws and shrug our shoulder when those laws are unjust," said Fallone. "We don’t feel that the page should turn quite so quickly, and we think our resignations will be a way for the general public to pause and recognize this was wrong."

"I don’t know if I'm surprised, necessarily," said Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson.

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At a crime statistics news conference Thursday, the mayor said the Act 12 law stripping powers from the Fire and Police Commission was not what Fallone and Avalos signed up for. 

Before Act 12, all rulemaking for police and fire fell under the FPC's authority to approve, reject, and make changes. Act 12 took away that language, and the department chiefs now have the sole authority (with no FPC power) to approve, modify or suspend the new rules. 

"I think the thing that needs to be pointed out here is that these are policy positions that Republicans, for years, possibly wanted to implement on the city of Milwaukee," Johnson said. 

But the city was over a financial barrel regarding needing more shared revenue and creating a sales tax levy to address the pension crisis and doomsday scenarios of cuts to police, fire and city services. 

"Republicans saw that as a wedge, an opportunity to get some of those policies passed, and that's exactly what happened," Johnson said. 

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"I think it’s vitally important that the civilian oversight body for public safety have final word and final say on the policies that the police and fire department of the jurisdiction are going to enact," said Fallone.

Fallone and Avalos also said the state bill oversteps, imposing policy changes in Milwaukee that don't apply elsewhere in the state without most state legislators needing to answer to Milwaukee voters.

"I'm sorry to see you go," said Horwitz.

Fallone said it's not just the faces on the board that will change, but how they do their jobs will change, too.

"I mentioned the idea of soft power as opposed to hard power. Maybe it will take a little bit more sweat and elbow grease to accomplish the things that were, perhaps, easier to accomplish in the former form of the law, but I’m very confident the commission going forward will continue to do good work," said Fallone.

The city is considering a new law telling department chiefs to submit reports of new policies to the Common Council and FPC, with the FPC providing an analysis of that policy. It was held before the Public Safety and Health Committee for more research to be done. 

"This is a level of transparency that we want to create, as we have to move forward in a different world with Act 12," said Common Council President Jose Perez. 

Reaction

Statement from members of the Common Council: JoCasta Zamarripa, Mark Chambers, Jr., Jonathan Brostoff, Robert J. Bauman, Lamont Westmoreland, Mark A. Borkowski, José G. Pérez, Scott Spiker, and Marina Dimitrijevic 

"Today’s news that Fire and Police Commission (FPC) Chairman Ed Fallone and Vice Chairwoman Amanda Avalos will be resigning effective 12:01 a.m. Friday cannot be interpreted as anything other than a monumental loss for the City of Milwaukee.

"Since joining the body, Chairman Fallone and Vice Chairwoman Avalos have helped oversee a period of stability for the FPC. We want to thank them for their service to our community and wish them the best moving forward.

"As has been stated time and time again, Wisconsin Act 12 included a number of outrageous provisions aimed specifically at the City of Milwaukee. Among them was removing the FPC’s authority to set policies for the police and fire departments, and transferring that responsibility to each department's chief. This overreaching provision greatly diluted an important oversight responsibility held by the FPC, and is already causing talented, thoughtful individuals to leave their posts, in the end hurting the citizens of Milwaukee the most.

"We on the Common Council have opposed these State-mandated provisions at every turn, and will continue to do what we can to right these wrongs."

Full statement of FPC commissioners resigning

"We hereby announce that we will resign our positions on the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners (FPC) for the City of Milwaukee effective at 12:01 a.m. on Friday July 21, 2023.
We are proud of the work that we have accomplished as Chair and Vice Chair of the FPC over our tenures. This is not an easy decision for us to make. 

Our reasons for taking this action are as follows:

1. We feel that, by continuing to serve on the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission, our continued service might be construed as an indication that we accept the substantial restrictions on FPC authority contained in the recently enacted Act 12.

We do not accept these changes to the authority of the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission. Our resignations are intended to clearly communicate to the elected officials of our State and to the members of the general public that we strongly oppose the elimination of the FPC’s policymaking authority as part of Act 12.

The restrictions on FPC authority contained in Act 12 were originally proposed to Wisconsin lawmakers by a special interest group – a special interest group that regularly places itself in opposition to the FPC through its public statements and through litigation. No elected official consulted any member of the FPC before these proposals were written and included in the draft bill. If the members of the Commission had been consulted, we would have explained why these proposals were shortsighted and misguided, and why they were not in the best interests of the residents of Milwaukee.

Once the members of the Commission became aware of the provisions of Act 12, we unanimously and consistently opposed the draft legislation. We communicated our strong and united opposition on multiple occasions to the Mayor, the Common Council, the Governor and to the leaders of the State legislature. None of this mattered. An institution that for over 135 years has provided the citizens of Milwaukee with an important measure of control over their own lives was reduced to a pawn in someone else’s game. We simply cannot accept this.

2. We are resigning in order to call attention to Act 12’s assault on self-government.

Our country was founded on the principle that every American has the fundamental right to participate in self-government. The State of Wisconsin amplifies and clarifies our right of self-government in the Home Rule provisions of the Wisconsin Constitution, which provide that decisions having a primarily local impact should be decided by local residents. Because Act 12 imposes policy changes and obligations on the City of Milwaukee, in ways that do not apply to any other municipal government in the state, the passage of Act 12 by the state legislature is an attack on this fundamental right of self-government. The provisions of Act 12 that restrict the authority of the FPC are opposed by the Milwaukee Common Council and they are opposed by the vast majority of the residents of our city. However, Act 12 was pushed through the state legislature by legislators who do not have to answer to the voters of Milwaukee. Safe in their gerrymandered districts, and representing a minority of the population of our state, these legislators were able to impose their choices on the majority of the voters in Wisconsin without fear of facing any consequences.

It is no answer to these criticisms to say that the Governor signed Act 12, and that some elected officials in Milwaukee voiced support for the overall legislation. By tying the reduction of the FPC’s authority to an omnibus government funding bill, the proponents of Act 12 ensured that opposition to the legislation would threaten the financial future of the City of Milwaukee. As a result, significant policy changes were enacted into law without meaningful public input or debate.

Anyone who cares about democracy and self-government should be appalled at such legislative practices. This process of lawmaking is fundamentally wrong and it should not be normalized.

3. The new law significantly changes the job duties of a Commissioner.

By eliminating the exercise of direct control over the policies of the Police and Fire Departments, Act 12 creates a new job of Commissioner that is different from the job that both of us agreed to do. We agreed to accept a position with the City of Milwaukee that entailed a substantial time commitment and that, at times, subjected us to public criticism and second-guessing. However, we accepted this challenge in large part because the position that was offered to us also included the opportunity to be agents of change in our community. Now that Act 12 has significantly altered the duties of Commissioner, we no longer feel obligated to continue serving in this very different role.

We wish to emphasize that there has never been any credible allegation that the members of the Commission have abused their policymaking authority. In fact, the FPC has approached its policymaking function in a responsible, deliberate and thoughtful manner. It is notable that the residents of the City of Milwaukee have strongly supported the policy reforms enacted by the Commission. It is unnecessary and unjust to take away a power that has been used wisely and that has benefited the people we serve.

In choosing to resign, the two of us understand and appreciate that the remainder of our colleagues on the Board of the FPC have made a different decision and that they will continue their service on the Board. We wish them the best. Each member of the Board of the Fire and Police Commission is feeling a different level of anger, disappointment and acceptance. We recognize that each Commissioner must make their own individual decision as to whether to continue their service going forward. We have made ours.

We would also like to thank Executive Director Leon Todd and the entire staff of the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission. Our decision to resign is in no way connected to their excellent and loyal job performance on behalf of the FPC. Executive Director Todd and the staff are outstanding public servants and it has been a pleasure to work with them.

We would also like to express our strong support and appreciation to Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman and to Milwaukee Fire Chief Aaron Lipski. Our city is fortunate to have two such capable leaders. For the past two years, the policy of the FPC has been to act in partnership with our Chiefs, and to allow each Chief to do their job with a minimum of outside interference. By subjecting the heads of the Police and Fire Departments to second-guessing by politicians, the new Act 12 makes the job of our Chiefs harder, not easier. However, we have faith that Chiefs Norman and Lipski will continue to lead the Milwaukee Police and Fire Departments wisely.

Finally, by resigning our positions, effective tomorrow, we hope to send a message to voters across the entire State of Wisconsin. Demand that your elected officials support the right of self-government, not just for you in your own town but for all of the residents of our State. Demand that your elected officials support policing policies that respect the constitutional rights shared by every resident of Wisconsin. And use your vote to support candidates who will defend civilian oversight over our police and fire departments.

For the foregoing reasons, we resign our positions on the Milwaukee Board of Police and Fire Commissioners as of 12:01 a.m. on Friday July 21, 2023."